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OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


NQN  CIRCULATING 


UNIVERSITY  ^ILLINOIS 

Agricultural  Efpfalent  Station 


BULLETIN  No.  175 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  ONION'  CULTURE 


BY  JOHN  W.  L,L,OYD 


URBANA,  ILLINOIS,  JULY.  1914 


SUMMARY  OF  BULLETIN  No.  175 

1.  Experiments  in  onion  culture  have  been  conducted  at  the  Illinois  Agri- 
cultural Experiment  Station  for  six  years.  Page     337 

2.  The  application  of  unleached  hard-wood  ashes,  in  addition  to  manure, 
usually  increased  the  yield   of  onions,   as   compared   with  the   use   of  manure 
alone;  but  in  only  three  years  of  the  six  was  the  increase  in  yield  sufficient  to 
make  the  use  of  the  ashes  profitable.  Page     338 

3.  Early  planting  of  onions  resulted  in  much  more  profitable  yields  than 
late  planting.  Page     339 

4.  Attempts  to  grow  onions  without  thinning  resulted  in  the  production 
of  a  high  percentage  of  undersized  bulbs,  except  when  the  original  stand  was 
comparatively  thin.  Page     346 

5.  Larger  yields  of  onions  were  produced  from  sets  than  from  seed. 

Page     351 

6.  CONCLUSIONS.  Page     361 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  ONION  CULTURE 

BY  JOHN  W.  L,L/OYD,  CHIEF  IN 


The  Illinois  Agricultural  Experiment  Station  has  conducted  ex- 
periments in  onion  culture  on  the  Station  grounds  at  Urbana  for  six 
years.  The  chief  objects  of  the  experiments  have  been  to  determine: 

(1)  the  effect  of  time  of  planting  upon  the  yield  and  size  of  bulbs; 

(2)  the  relative  merits  of  thinning  and  of  not  thinning;  (3)  the  feas- 
ibility of  producing  ripe  onions  from  bottom  sets  ;  and  (4)  the  effect 
of  supplementing  manure  with  wood  ashes  as  a  fertilizer  for  onions. 

METHOD  OF  CONDUCTING  THE  TESTS 

The  land  used  for  the  onion  experiments  was  part  of  the  area 
formerly  occupied  by  the  "Farmer's  Vegetable  Garden"  reported  in 
Bulletin  No.  1051  of  this  station.  The  soil  is  the  typical  upland  prairie 
soil  of  the  corn  belt,  technically  known  as  brown  silt  loam.  During 
the  five  years  from  1900  to  1904  inclusive,  when  the  half-acre  in  ques- 
tion was  used  as  a  "farmer's  garden,"  ninety-eight  loads  of  manure 
were  applied  ;  and  in  the  fall  of  1904,  thirty-six  loads  were  applied. 
The  land  was  used  in  1905  for  the  growing  of  carnations  and  other 
flowering  plants.  In  1906,  eight  loads  of  manure  were  applied  in 
the  spring  and  nineteen  loads  in  the  fall.  The  land  was  used  for 
growing  a  general  assortment  of  early  vegetables  in  1906,  and  was 
plowed  late  in  the  fall  after  manuring.  Thus,  during  the  seven  years 
preceding  the  beginning  of  the  onion  experiments  in  1907,  the  land 
had  been  fertilized  with  manure  at  the  rate  of  322  loads  per  acre,  or 
an  average  of  forty-six  loads  per  acre  per  year.  It  had  also  been 
kept  relatively  free  from  weeds,  and  was  therefore  in  good  condition 
for  starting  the  onion  experiments. 

Each  year  during  the  progress  of  the  onion  experiments,  the  land 
was  given  a  dressing  of  manure  in  the  fall  at  the  rate  of  approxi- 
mately thirty-six  tons  per  acre.  The  manure  was  usually  plowed  un- 
der late  in  the  fall,  and  the  land  was  allowed  to  lie  rough  in  the 
furrow  until  spring.  At  the  very  earliest  date  in  spring  that  it  was 
possible  to  work  the  ground  to  advantage,  the  land  was  thoroly  disked, 
and  harrowed  and  planked  repeatedly  until  a  fine  seed  bed  was  pre- 
pared. It  was  then  laid  out  in  plats  one  rod  wide  and  four  rods  long. 

1  No   longer    available    for    distribution. 

337 


338 


BULLETIN  No.  175 


[July, 


Each  plat  thus  consisted  of  exactly  one-fortieth  of  an  acre.  Sixteen 
rows  of  onions  were  planted  lengthwise  of  each  plat.  The  seed  was 
sown  by  means  of  a  garden  seed  drill.  The  sets,  when  used,  were 
planted  by  hand  after  the  land  had  been  marked  off  with  a  sled 
marker. 

The  growing  crop  was  invariably  given  good  care  thruout  the  sea- 
son. As  soon  as  the  seedlings  were  up  so  that  it  was  possible  to  dis- 
tinguish the  rows,  tillage  was  started.  Cultivation  with  wheel  hoes, 
equipped  with  various  attachments,  was  repeated  at  frequent  inter- 
vals until  the  plants  were  so  large  that  further  tillage  was  imprac- 
ticable. Hand  weeding  was  commenced  early  and  repeated  as  often 
as  was  necessary  in  order  to  keep  the  plantation  clean. 

A  complete  record  was  kept  of  the  time  employed  in  each  opera- 
tion on  each  plat.  When  the  onions  were  harvested,  the  product  of 
each  plat  was  graded  and  weighed,  and  the  bulbs  were  counted.  The 
crop  was  then  sold  on  the  local  market.  Thus  the  cost  of  production, 
the  yield,  and  the  profits  for  each  plat  could  be  determined.  Except 
where  noted,  the  Southport  Yellow  Globe  was  the  variety  of  onion 
used  in  all  the  tests. 


EFFECT  OF  USING  WOOD  ASHES  IN  ADDITION  TO  MANURE 
AS  A  FERTILIZER  FOR  ONIONS 

Since  it  is  generally  conceded  that  the  onion  requires  a  large 
amount  of  potassium,  and  since  the  potassium  in  wood  ashes  is  in  a 
readily  available  form,  a  test  was  made  to  determine  the  value  of 
ashes  for  the  onion  crop  on  land  of  the  type  in  question  that  had 
already  been  heavily  manured.  Each  year,  fifty  pounds  of  commer- 
cial unleached  hard- wood  ashes  were  applied  to  Plat  1.  This  was 
at  the  rate  of  one  ton  per  acre.  During  the  first  two  years  of  the 
test,  the  ashes  were  applied  as  a  top  dressing  between  the  rows  of 
the  growing  crop  shortly  after  the  seedlings  had  appeared.  During 
the  other  four  years,  they  were  applied  broadcast  during  the  final 
fitting  of  the  land  immediately  preceding  the  sowing  of  the  seed. 
Plat  2  received  precisely  the  same  treatment  as  Plat  1  thruout  the 
season,  except  that  no  ashes  were  applied.  The  yields  of  onions  from 
these  two  plats,  calculated  to  the  acre  basis,  are  given  in  Table  1. 

TABLE  1. — YIELDS  OF  ONIONS,  WITH  AND  WITHOUT  ASHES 
(Bushels  per  acre) 


Plat 

Treatment 

1907 

1908 

1909 

1910 

1911 

1912 

Aver- 
age 

1 
2 

Manure  and  wood  ashes.  . 
Manure   alone   

540.17 
413.46 

308.94 
312.81 

466.59 
456.91 

369.82 
307.66 

103.86 
89.06 

522.11 
494.56 

385.25 
345.74 

Difference  in   favor   of 
ashes  . 

126.71 

—3.87 

9.68 

62.16 

14.80 

27.55 

39.51 

1914} 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  ONION  CULTURE 


339 


These  figures  show  that  in  five  of  the  six  years  the  plat  treated 
with  ashes  in  addition  to  manure  outyielded  the  plat  treated  with 
manure  alone,  and  that  the  average  increase  in  yield  per  year  evi- 
dently due  to  the  use  of  the  ashes  was  39.51  bushels  per  acre. 

The  ashes  used  were  purchased  in  Chicago  at  $8.00  per  ton.  The 
cost  of  freight,  handling,  and  application  was  $4.75  per  ton,  thus 
making  the  cost  of  the  ashes  treatment  $12.75  per  acre,  since  one  ton 
per  acre  was  the  amount  used.  The  onions  were  sold  at  market  price 
soon  after  the  harvest.  The  value  of  the  crop  from  the  plat  treated 
with  manure  alone,  and  the  value  of  the  crop  from  the  plat  treated 
with  manure  and  ashes  minus  the  cost  of  the  ashes,  are  given  on  the 
acre  basis  in  Table  2. 

TABLE  2.- — NET  VALUE  OF  ONION  CROP  PER  ACRE,  WITH  AND  WITHOUT  ASHES 


Plat 

Treatment 

1907 

1908 

1909 

1910 

1911 

1912 

Aver- 
age 

1 
2 

Manure  and 
wood   ashes.  . 
Manure  alone.  . 

$392.38 
310.10 

$200.54 
212.77 

$336.01 
341.65 

$281.44 
242.91 

$58.13 
60.13 

$299.78 
295.95 

$261.38 
243.92 

Profit 

for   ashes  

$82.28 

$-12.23 

$-5.64 

$38.53 

$-2.00 

$  3.83 

$17.46 

It  will  be  seen  that  altho  the  yield  was  increased  five  years  of  the 
six  by  the  use  of  the  ashes,  the  net  value  of  the  increase  was  suffi- 
cient to  make  their  use  profitable  only  three  years  of  the  six.  The 
average  for  the  six  years,  however,  shows  that  the  use  of  the  ashes 
resulted  in  a  net  profit  of  $17.46  per  acre  per  year,  if  no  account  is 
taken  of  the  slight  differences  in  the  cost  of  harvesting  the  different 
crops. 

INFLUENCE  OF  TIME  OF  PLANTING  UPON  YIELDS  AND 

PROFITS 

Directions  for  the  culture  of  onions  usually  specify  that  the  seed 
should  be  sown  as  early  in  the  spring  as  the  ground  can  be  worked. 
This  date  varies  from  year  to  year  in  the  same  locality,  and  is  es- 
pecially variable  where  the  soil  is  of  such  a  nature  that  it  does  not 
quickly  become  workable  after  being  thoroly  wet.  However,  in  four 
years  of  the  six  during  which  the  onion  tests  have  been  in  progress, 
it  has  been  possible  to  prepare  the  soil  at  Urbana  and  sow  the  seed 
between  the  20th  and  26th  of  March.  In  the  other  two  years,  plant- 
ing was  delayed  until  April  1  and  11,  respectively,  by  reason  of  the 
soil  being  wet. 

In  order  to  make  a  thoro  test  of  the  influence  of  the  time  of  plant- 
ing upon  the  yield  of  onions,  one  planting  was  made  each  year  at 
the  very  earliest  date  that  it  was  possible  to  prepare  a  good  seed  bed, 
and  subsequent  plantings  were  made  at  intervals  of  as  near  fourteen 
days  as  the  soil  conditions  would  permit.  In  1907,  1908,  1909,  and 


340 


BULLETIN  No.   175 


[July, 


1910,  four  plantings  were  made  each  year,  and  in  1911  and  1912, 
three  plantings.  The  plats  for  the  entire  series  of  onion  experiments 
were  treated  alike  when  being  fitted  for  the  earliest  planting.  Areas 
to  be  occupied  by  later  plantings  were  harrowed  or  otherwise  culti- 
vated at  intervals  so  that  the  soil  would  retain  moisture,  and  the 
growth  of  weeds  would  be  prevented,  until  the  plats  were  needed  for 
planting.  The  actual  dates  of  the  different  plantings  each  year  are 
given  in  Table  3. 

TABLE  3. — DATES  OP  PLANTING  THE  ONIONS 


Plat 

1907 

1908 

1909 

1910 

1911 

1912 

Aver- 
age 
date 

2 

7 
8 
9 

Earliest 
planting  .  .  .. 
Second  planting 
Third    planting. 
Fourth  nlantinff 

Mar.  20 
Apr.     3 
Apr.   17 
Mav     2 

Mar.  26 
Apr.   13 
May     2 
Mav   20 

Apr.     1 
Apr.   16 
May     3 
Mav   15 

Mar.  22 
Apr.     2 
Apr.   20 
Mav     5 

Mar.  22 

Apr.   17 
Apr.  26 

Apr.  11 
Apr.  25 
May     9 

Mar.  27 
Apr.  13 
Apr.  28 
Mav  11 

The  onions  from  the  earliest  planting  usually  continued  growing 
almost  as  late  as  those  from  the  second  planting,  and  sometimes  fully 
as  late.  For  the  six  years,  the  growing  period  averaged  13  days 
longer  for  the  earliest  planting  than  for  the  second,  and  11  days 
longer  for  the  second  than  for  the  third.  The  actual  dates  of  har- 
vesting the  onions  from  the  various  plantings  each  year  are  given  in 
Table  4,  together  with  the  length  of  the  growing  period  for  each  plant- 
ing. It  will  be  seen  that,  in  general,  the  period  of  growth  decreased 
as  the  date  of  planting  was  deferred. 

YIELDS 

That  the  shortening  of  the  growing  period  by  reason  of  late  plant- 
ing had  a  decidedly  unfavorable  influence  on  yield  is  clearly  shown 
in  Table  5,  which  gives  the  yields,  in  bushels  per  acre,  from  the  dif- 
ferent plantings  each  year.  It  will  be  seen  that  every  year  that  the 
fourth  planting  was  tested,  it  gave  a  smaller  total  yield  than  the 
third  planting;  tha,t  in  every  year  except  1907,  the  third  planting 
gave  a  smaller  yield  than  the  second ;  and  that  in  three  years  of  the 
six,  the  second  planting  gave  a  smaller  yield  than  the  first.  The 
smaller  yield  from  the  first  planting  in  1907  was  plainly  due  to  a 
poor  stand  resulting  from  too  thin  seeding.  In  average  yield  for 
the  six  years,  the  first  planting  was  clearly  superior  to  the  second 
and  the  second  far  superior  to  the  third.  The  fourth  planting  was 
made  only  four  years  of  the  six,  but  each  of  these  years  it  resulted 
in  a  lower  yield  than  the  third  planting.  Thus  there  appears  to  be 
a  fairly  close  relation  between  the  time  of  planting  and  the  yield  of 
onions. 


1914] 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  ONION  CULTURE 


341 


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342 


BULLETIN  No.  175 


[July, 


SIZE  OP  BULBS 

Another  feature  brought  out  by  Table  5  is  the  larger  proportion 
of  small  onions  in  the  crops  from  the  later  plantings.  This  is  es- 
pecially pronounced  in  the  fourth  planting,  when  for  three  years 
(1908,  1909,  and  1910)  an  average  of  over  48  percent  of  the  crop, 
by  bushels,  consisted  of  small  onions.  In  this  grading,  onions  less 
than  114  inches  in  diameter  were  classed  as  small. 

The  influence  of  the  time  of  planting  upon  the  size  of  the  onions 
is  further  shown  by  Table  6,  which  gives  the  actual  number  of  large 
and  of  small  onions  produced  by  each  plat  each  year,  together  with 
the  average  weight  per  bulb  in  both  the  large  and  the  small  sizes,  and 
the  average  weight  per  bulb  for  the  entire  crop. 


TABLE  6. — NUMBER  OF  LARGE  AND  SMALL  ONIONS  AND  AVERAGE  WEIGHT  OP 
BULBS  FROM  EACH  PLAT:    EARLY  AND  LATE  PLANTING 

(All  weights  expressed  in  pounds) 


Year 

Large 

Small 

Total 

Large 

Small 

Total 

No. 

Av. 

wt. 

No. 

Av. 

wt. 

No. 

Av. 
wt. 

No. 

Av. 
wt. 

No. 

Av. 

wt. 

No. 

Av. 
wt. 

Plat  2:  Earliest  planting 

Plat  7  :  Second  planting 

1907 

2278 
1900 
3755 
1974 
1975 
3722 

.259 
.169 
.172 
.214 
.045 
.188 

2278 
3560 
3894 
2254 
3967 
3887 

.259 
.125 
.167 
.194 
.032 
.181 

3936 
1400 
3075 
2040 
1822 
3862 

.188 
.168 
.127 
.123 
.054 
.211 

3936 
2730 
3769 
2303 
3649 
3961 

.188 
.119 
.112 
.116 
.039 
.207 

1908  

1660 
139 
280 
1992 
165 

.075 
.042 
.055 
.019 
.023 

1330 
694 
263 
1827 
99 

.068 
.046 
.063 
.024 
.029 

1909  

1910  

1911  

1912  

Average  

2601 

.177 

706 

.044 

3307 

.149 

2689 

.157 

702 

.044 

3391 

.134 

Plat  8:  Third  planting 

Plat  9  :  Fourth  planting 

1907 

4514 

857 
2645 
1929 
436 
1693 

.173 
.131 
.106 
.069 
.039 
.220 

4514 
2029 
3424 
2700 
2748 
1804 

.173 
.089 
.091 
.065 
.019 
.208 

4380 
443 
1601 
855 

.166 
.109 
.083 
.097 

4380 
2530 
3498 
2362 

.166 
.062 
.060 
.063 

1908  

1172 
779 
771 
2312 
111 

.058 
.041 
.053 
.016 
.023 

2087 
1897 
1507 

.052 
.041 
.044 

1909  

1910  

1911 

1912  

Averaee.  . 

2012 

.140 

858 

.035 

2870 

.109 

1820 

.136 

1373 

.046 

3193 

.097 

RELATION  OF  WEATHER  TO  SIZE  AND  YIELD  OF  ONIONS 

Table  6  shows  that  in  general  the  proportion  of  small  to  large 
onions  increased  and  the  average  size  of  the  bulbs  decreased  as  the 
planting  became  later.  However,  there  was  more  difference  in  the 
size  of  the  onions  from  the  same  plat  in  different  seasons  than  from 
different  plats  in  the  same  season.  The  bulbs  were  especially  large 
in  1907  and  especially  small  in  1911.  The  late  plantings  in  1907  and 
1912  produced  much  larger  bulbs  than  the  late  plantings  in  other 


1914] 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  ONION  CULTURE 


343 


years.  Some  of  the  variation  in  the  size  of  the  bulbs  was  doubtless 
due  to  lack  of  uniformity  in  stand,  but  since  in  no  case  were  the  bulbs 
overcrowded,  the  difference  in  size  must  have  been  due  mainly  to  some 
other  cause. 

An  examination  of  the  temperature  and  rainfall  records  for  the 
months  of  June,  July,  and  August  in  each  year  from  1907  to  1912 
inclusive  shows  that  there  were  some  striking  relations  between  the 
weather  and  the  size  of  the  onion  bulbs.  Tables  7,  8,  and  9  show 
the  maximum  temperatures  for  each  day  in  June,  July,  and  August 
of  the  years  in  question,  and  also  the  amount  and  distribution  of 
rainfall  for  these  months.1 


TABLE  7. — WEATHER  EECORD  FOR  JUNE 


1907 

1908 

1909 

1910 

1911 

1912 

Day 

Max. 

Rain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

op 

inches 

°F 

inches 

°F 

inches 

°F 

inches 

°F 

inches 

Of 

inches 

1 

54 

2.41 

68 

78 

72 

80 

82 

.32 

2 

58 

74 

T' 

71 

.65 

59 

'.16 

77 

'.03 

74 

.  .  . 

3 

69 

'.08 

68 

.09 

78 

f 

58 

92 

80 

4 

71 

.46 

79 

76 

T 

65 

T 

98 

.  .  . 

73 

.06 

5 

71 

84 

84 

T 

70 

T 

96 

T 

78 

T 

fi 

71 

'.33 

84 

85 

70 

.03 

93 

.05 

73 

7 

74 

85 

85 

70 

84 

66 

.  .  . 

8 

67 

82 

T 

85 

.18 

74 

86 

69 

9 

75 

".34 

77 

78 

.15 

71 

'.ii 

95 

73 

.  .  . 

10 

77 

.04 

68.5 

72 

.03 

71 

98 

79 

11 

79 

72 

79 

76 

.  .  . 

86 

83 

12 

78 

80 

81 

.15 

80 

71 

"  T 

84 

'T 

13 

75 

82.5 

'.05 

80 

.40 

84 

80 

.  .  . 

84 

.01 

14 

79 

78 

.41 

72 

83 

T 

80 

.  .  . 

78 

.25 

15 

85 

69 

71 

89 

83 

.  .  . 

83 

.14 

16 

88 

74 

79 

T 

89 

86 

T 

78 

.92 

17 

90 

78 

T' 

78 

.54 

89 

88 

.06 

70 

.08 

18 

89 

•  '•  j 

88.5 

72 

•  •  • 

90 

79 

.  .  . 

61 

.01 

19 

81 

86 

.18 

78 

•  •  • 

95 

.  .  . 

85 

66 

T 

20 

81 

*  •  • 

87 

.12 

84 

89 

.  .  . 

92 

.  .  . 

78 

.07 

21 

87 

90 

.13 

76 

'.24 

92 

P4 

72 

... 

22 

88 

92 

82 

.51 

93 

96 

... 

78 

23 

87 

t  •  • 

89 

T' 

85 

92 

90 

.04 

78 

24 

70 

1.90 

81 

91 

.01 

92 

80 

.48 

81 

25 

78 

... 

80 

•   .    • 

87 

.36 

91 

84 

.01 

84 

26 

74 

.  ,  . 

82 

»  »  • 

85 

.14 

93 

1.27 

85 

*  ,  , 

88 

27 

73 

.  .  . 

84 

85 

.39 

76 

1.48 

84 

.15 

87 

28 

75 

.  .  • 

84 

T" 

88 

85 

82 

87 

29 

82 

... 

74.5 

1.01 

90 

87 

87 

83 

30 

85 

... 

77 

... 

87 

91 

93 

T. 

86 

Mean 

77.03 

.  .  . 

79.93 

.  .  . 

80.73 

81.20 

86.80 

77.97 

Total 

5.56 

.... 

1.99 

.... 

3.75 



2.99 



.82 



1.89 

1  These  data  are  from  the  official  weather  records  of  the  University  and  were 
furnished  the  author  thru  the  courtesy  of  Professor  J.  G.  Mosier. 


344 


BULLETIN  No.  175    * 
TABLE  8. — WEATHER  EECORD  FOR  JULY 


[July, 


1£ 

107 

18 

08 

19 

09 

19 

10 

18 

11 

19 

12 

Day 

Max. 

Bain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

•f 

inches 

°F 

inches 

°F 

inches 

°F 

inches 

°F 

inches 

•r 

inches 

1 

85 

.11 

83.5 

... 

90 

,  , 

90 

.  . 

96 

... 

82 

.57 

2 

73 

.  .  . 

86 

T 

92 

.  . 

89 

.  . 

98 

... 

77 

.03 

3 

80 

... 

73 

2* 

92 

.  . 

84 

05 

99 

... 

75 

.53 

4 

89 

T 

77 

9  i 

75 

.  . 

76 

.  . 

102 

... 

£3 

... 

5 

93 

... 

86 

9  9 

62 

99 

84 

.  . 

100 

... 

88 

... 

6 

93 

.50 

89 

m  % 

67 

216 

88 

.  . 

94 

... 

84 

... 

7 

88 

... 

67 

42 

74 

46 

90 

.  . 

96 

T 

82 

... 

8 

93 

T 

74 

.  . 

82 

.  . 

91 

.  . 

93 

83 

.01 

9 

90 

.55 

83 

.  . 

85 

.  . 

89 

.  . 

94 

... 

88 

T 

10 

86 

.89 

87 

.  . 

81 

.  . 

82 

90 

T 

81 

.08" 

11 

77 

.08 

93 

.  . 

80 

186 

85 

.  . 

99 

.10 

85 

... 

12 

79 

... 

94 

.  . 

79 

182 

84 

78 

87 

... 

82 

... 

13 

81 

... 

94 

.  . 

82 

02 

81 

.  . 

84 

T 

91.5 

... 

14 

82 

.98 

87 

80 

82 

.  . 

87 

T 

89 

•  •  • 

90 

... 

15 

85 

T 

85 

.  . 

85 

.  . 

84 

10 

93 

.  *  • 

85 

... 

16 

87 

.43 

85 

24 

81 

.  . 

84 

93 

81 

.10 

81 

,  .  . 

17 

85 

9 

86 

.  . 

83 

.  . 

76 

01 

86 

86 

... 

18 

86 

p 

82 

.  . 

80 

09 

78 

.  . 

82 

•  •  • 

83 

... 

19 

88 

. 

81 

.  . 

78 

.  . 

80 

.  . 

76 

.16 

73 

... 

20 

88 

t 

68 

21 

81 

.  . 

84 

.  . 

88 

•  •  • 

88 

.  . 

21 

90 

t 

85 

08 

84 

.  . 

83 

.  . 

89 

•  •  • 

83 

1.62 

22 

88 

9 

84 

9  9 

84 

T 

85 

.  . 

86 

•  •  • 

80 

... 

23 

89 

B 

83 

79 

.  . 

87 

,  . 

78 

.24 

89 

.30 

24 

91 

T 

83 

12 

80 

.  . 

92 

08 

76 

T 

94 

•  •  * 

25 

90 

T 

85 

81 

.  . 

93 

m  9 

74 

.01 

86 

•  •  • 

26 

76 

.11 

84 

9  m 

67 

05 

88 

9  . 

75 

•  •  • 

79 

•  •  • 

27 

80 

•  *  • 

84 

18 

78 

12 

93 

m  9 

82 

•  •  • 

81 

•  •  • 

28 

69 

.33 

90 

.  . 

89 

.  . 

82 

27 

85 

T 

80 

.39 

29 

83 

•  •  • 

91 

.  . 

93 

.  . 

84 

54 

86 

.01 

81 

... 

30 

85 

•  •  • 

93 

^  . 

91 

.  . 

83 

,  9 

84 

83 

... 

31 

82 

1.03 

87 

80 

T 

81 

•  • 

85 

... 

75 

.15 

Mean 

84.87 

.... 

84.17 

81.19 

85.06 

87.97 

83.18 

Total 

.... 

5.01 

.... 

2.31 

.... 

7.57 

.... 

2.76 



.62 

.... 

3.68 

An  examination  of  these  records  shows  that  in  1907,  when  all  the 
plantings  of  onions  produced  large  yields  and  all  the  bulbs  were  large, 
the  rainfall  was  exceptionally  heavy  and  well  distributed,  and  the 
mean  maximum  temperatures  were  quite  low,  especially  for  June  and 
August.  Under  these  conditions  the  onions  continued  to  grow  until 
late  in  August,  as  indicated  in  Table  4,  and  were  able  to  produce  the 
large  yields  indicated  in  Table  5.  In  1912  somewhat  similar  condi- 
tions prevailed.  Altho  the  rainfall  was  considerably  less  than  in 
1907,  it  was  quite  well  distributed,  and  aided  the  crop  at  critical 
times.  The  heavy  rain  of  July  21  and -the  frequent  showers  from 
August  5  to  16  were  important  factors  in  the  development  of  the 
crop.  The  temperature  also  was  favorable  to  the  growth  of  onions, 
there  being  very  few  excessively  hot  days,  and  the  mean  maximum 


1914} 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  ONION  CULTURE 


345 


TABLE  9. — WEATHER  EECORD  FOR  AUGUST 


1907 

1908 

1909 

1910 

1911 

1912 

Day 

Max. 

Rain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

Max. 

Rain- 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

temp. 

fall 

°F 

inches 

°F 

inches 

°F 

inches 

°F 

inches 

°F 

inches 

°F 

inches 

1 

82 

.10 

88 

... 

87 

85 

85 

.46 

78 

... 

2 

72 

•  •  • 

93 

... 

91 

88 

£0 

... 

74 

... 

3 

75 

93 

•  .  . 

89 

'T 

85 

85 

.  «  * 

69 

... 

4 

77 

»  »  « 

86 

... 

88 

.03 

81 

89 

*  .  i 

69 

... 

5 

82 

.98 

89 

T 

88 

81 

... 

88 

... 

72 

.01 

6 

84 

•  •  • 

88 

T 

86 

•  •  • 

82 

91 

... 

80 

T 

7 

85 

.90 

82 

... 

88 

•  »  • 

71 

.22 

87 

.08 

77 

T 

8 

87 

.03 

79 

... 

91 

•  •  • 

82 

•  •  • 

90 

... 

81 

.39 

9 

86 

.  • 

80 

T 

91 

T 

80 

T 

94 

T 

72 

.02 

10 

87 

83 

... 

85 

.  •  * 

82 

•  •  • 

P7 

•  .  • 

74 

.24 

11 

90 

85 

... 

89 

83 

92 

»  •  • 

79 

.02 

12 

80 

.25 

88 

1.24 

93 

.01 

85 

•  •  • 

88 

T 

81 

.06 

13 

83 

86 

»  .  . 

90 

•  •  • 

84 

•  •  • 

91 

... 

86 

.29 

14 

73 

T 

89 

... 

94 

•  •  • 

88 

•  •  • 

90 

<  .  . 

83 

T 

15 

84 

87 

.71 

92 

T 

90 

•  •  • 

03 

... 

83 

T 

16 

84 

1.42 

93 

T 

91 

•  •  * 

89 

.85 

97 

71 

.36 

17 

81 

.26 

88 

•  «  « 

79 

•  •  • 

89 

.50 

93 

T 

88 

... 

18 

84 

81 

... 

84 

•  •  * 

75 

.10 

88 

90 

... 

19 

86 

78 

T 

89 

•  *  » 

80 

... 

81 

•  .  • 

£6 

... 

20 

72 

.41 

73 

*  .  * 

82 

•  •  • 

83 

... 

81 

.  -  . 

82 

.45 

21 

73 

82 

•  •  • 

80 

•  •  • 

84 

... 

86 

*  *  * 

83 

... 

22 

73 

•  •  • 

81 

•  •  « 

83 

•  •  • 

87 

... 

79 

.  .  . 

83 

.22 

23 

75 

76 

4   »   • 

87 

m 

85 

.87 

71 

.42 

77 

,  .  , 

24 

80 

•  •  • 

74 

t  •  • 

91 

•  •  • 

83 

... 

62 

1.62 

87 

... 

25 

77 

76 

»  •  • 

88 

2.32 

80 

T 

75 

T 

91 

... 

26 

79 

•  •  • 

81 

*   •   • 

88 

.01 

70 

... 

78 

.  .  . 

89.5 

,  ,  . 

27 

86 

.07 

84 

92 

T 

74 

86 

... 

73.5 

28 

80 

87 

•   *   * 

91 

... 

79 

... 

76, 

.77 

91 

29 

83 

'T 

83 

.10 

74 

... 

84 

... 

71 

81 

30 

92 

... 

89 

*  *  • 

79 

... 

90 

... 

75 

.  r  , 

88 

... 

31 

91 

89 

84 

78 

.08 

83 

92.5 

Mean 

81.38 

84.22 

87.22 

82.48 

84.58 

.. 

81.01 

Total 

.... 

4.42 

.... 

2.05 

.... 

2.37 

2.62 



3.35 



2.06 

temperatures  being  especially  low  for  June  and  August.  The  onions 
kept  on  growing  till  after  August  20,  and  were  nearly  all  of  large 
size.  Those  from  the  last  planting  were  as  large  as  any,  altho  the 
yield  was  smaller  on  account  of  a  poor  stand. 

In  marked  contrast  to  the  conditions  in  1907  and  1912  were  those 
of  1911,  when  the  total  precipitation  for  the  months  of  June  and  July 
was  only  1.44  inches,  and  abnormally  high  temperatures  prevailed, 
especially  during  June  and  the  first  half  of  July.  Under  these  con- 
ditions the  onions  remained  small  and  ripened  early. 

In  the  other  three  years  (1908,  1909,  and  1910),  the  weather  dur- 
ing the  three  months  in  question  was  less  abnormal,  there  being  at 
least  a  fair  amount  of  rainfall  in  June  and  July  and  comparatively 
few  excessively  hot  days.  The  first  part  of  August  was  in  each  case 


346  BULLETIN  No.  175 

dry,  and  nearly  all  the  onions  stopped  growing  during  that  period. 
With  the  exception  of  the  last  planting  in  1908,  which  responded  to 
the  rain  of  August  12,  the  onions  had  either  been  pulled  before  the 
August  rains  came,  or  were  practically  mature  at  that  time  and  were 
pulled  a  few  days  later.  Under  these  conditions,  which  may  be  con- 
sidered more  nearly  normal  than  those  of  1907,  1911,  and  1912,  the 
early  plantings  produced  much  larger  bulbs  and  hence  larger  yields 
than  the  late  plantings. 

The  relation  between  time  of  planting  and  size  of  bulbs  was  most 
strikingly  illustrated  in  1910,  when  the  crops  from  all  four  plantings 
were  harvested  on  the  same  day  and  the  onions  from  the  last  two 
plantings  were  only  one-third  the  size  of  those  from  the  first  plant- 
ing, while  those  from  the  second  planting  were  about  midway  between 
the  two  extremes. 

KELATION  OF  TIME  OF  PLANTING  TO  PROFITS 

As  soon  as  feasible  after  the  onions  were  harvested,  they  were  sold 
on  the  local  market.  The  value  of  the  crop  from  each  plat  was  cal- 
culated from  the  yield  and  the  prices  obtained.  The  cost  of  produc- 
tion was  also  determined,  and  calculated  to  the  acre  basis.  The  dif- 
ference between  the  value  of  the  crop  and  the  cost  of  production  thus 
gave  the  net  profit.  Data  on  these  points  for  each  planting  in  each 
year  are  given  in  Table  10. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  average  values  of  the  crops  from  the  first 
and  second  plantings  were  very  much  greater  than  those  from  the 
third  and  fourth ;  and  that  altho  the  cost  of  production  was  usually 
less  for  the  later  plantings,  the  average  profits  were  much  greater  for 
the  earlier  plantings.  The  table  further  shows  that  in  1908  and  1910, 
when  there  were  fairly  good  profits  from  the  first  two  plantings,  the 
last  two  plantings  resulted  either  in  a  loss  or  in  very  slight  profits. 
An  additional  point  brought  out  by  this  table  is  the  fact  that  in  an 
unfavorable  season,  like  1911,  even  early-planted  onions  may  be  grown 
at  an  actual  loss. 

THINNING 

The  common  practice  in  growing  onions  has  been  to  sow  the  seed 
thickly  in  order  to  insure  a  full  stand,  and  then  to  thin  the  seedlings 
to  the  desired  distance.  However,  within  recent  years  there  has  been 
a  tendency  among  commercial  growers  to  sow  the  seed  more  thinly 
and  to  dispense  with  the  thinning  of  the  seedlings.  In  order  to  se- 
cure data  regarding  the  influence  of  thinning  on  the  size  and  yield 
of  bulbs  and  the  relative  cost  of  growing  onions  with  and  without 
thinning,  tests  were  made  in  1908,  1909,  1911,  and  1912.  The  plats 
designed  to  be  thinned  were  sown  quite  thickly.  After  the  seedlings 
had  become  fully  established,  they  were  thinned  to  a  distance  of 


1914] 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  ONION  CULTURE 


347 


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348 


BULLETIN  No.  175 


[July, 


approximately  three  inches.  The  date  of  thinning  varied  from  May 
31  to  June  10.  Unavoidable  gaps  in  the  rows,  due  to  unequal  dis- 
tribution of  seed,  failure  to  germinate,  accidents  during  tillage,  etc., 
made  the  stand  in  the  thinned  plats  less  than  the  theoretical  number 
of  onions  that  there  would  have  been  if  an  onion  had  occupied  each 
and  every  three-inch  space  in  the  row.  The  plats  to  be  left  unthinned 
in  1908  and  1909  were  sown  much  more  thinly  than  the  plats  to  be 
thinned.  The  stands  were  not  uniform,  the  onions  being  more  or 
less  in  patches,  with  vacant  spaces  between.  In  1911  and  1912  all 
the  onions  were  sown  thickly.  Thinned  and  unthinned  plats  were 
treated  alike  in  reference  to  all  matters  of  tillage  and  care  except 
the  thinning. 

EFFECT  OF  THINNING  ON  SIZE  OF  BULBS 

When  harvested,  the  onions  from  each  plat  were  graded  into  large 
and  small,  and  each  lot  was  counted!  and  weighed.  The  number  of 
bulbs  and  the  average  weight  per  bulb  in  each  grade  are  given  in 
Table  11. 

TABLE  11. — NUMBER  OF  LARGE  AND  SMALL  ONIONS  AND  AVERAGE  WEIGHT  OF 
INDIVIDUAL  BULBS,  FROM  PLATS  THINNED  AND  UNTHINNED 

(All  weights  expressed  in  pounds) 


Year 

Plat  2:  Thinned 

Plat  3  :  Unthinned 

Large 

Small 

Total 

Large 

Small 

Total 

No. 

Av. 

wt. 

No. 

Av. 

wt. 

No. 

Av. 

wt. 

No. 

Av. 

wt. 

No. 

Av. 

wt. 

No. 

Av. 

wt. 

1908  

1900 
3755 
1975 
3722 

.169 
.172 
.045 
.188 

1660 
139 
1992 
165 

.075 
.042 
.019 
.023 

3560 
3894 
3967 

3887 

.125 
.167 
.032 
.181 

2000 
5309 
597 
8383 

.166 
.135 
.039 
.083 

2249 
1267 
16712 
2893 

.066 
.045 
.013 
.022 

4249 
6576 
17309 
11276 

.113 
.117 
.014 

.068 

1909  

1911  

1912  

Average  .  ... 

2838 

.155 

989 

.044 

3827 

.126 

4072 

.109 

5780 

.021 

9853 

.057 

This  table  shows  that  in  1908,  when  the  unthinned  plat  contained 
only  about  20  percent  more  bulbs  than  the  thinned  plat,  there  was 
not  a  large  amount  of  difference  in  the  average  size  of  the  onions 
from  the  two  plats ;  but  that  in  1909,  when  the  unthinned  plat  con- 
tained approximately  70  percent  more  bulbs  than  the  thinned  plat, 
there  was  much  greater  difference  in  the  average  weight  of  the  bulbs. 
On  account  of  dry  weather  in  1911,  none  of  the  onions  attained  nor- 
mal size,  but  those  from  the  thinned  plat  were,  on  an  average,  over 
twice  as  large  as  those  from  the  unthinned  plat.  Nearly  the  entire 
crop  from  the  unthinned  plat  consisted  of  bulbs  less  than  11/4  inches 
in  diameter,  while  approximately  50  percent  of  the  bulbs  from  the 
thinned  plat  were  above  that  size.  It  should  be  noted  in  this  con- 
nection that  the  unthinned  plat  contained  over  four  times  as  many 


1914} 


EXPERII  CENTS   IN   ONION    CULTURE 


349 


bulbs  as  the  thinned  plat.  In  1912,  a  season  favorable  to  the  pro- 
duction of  onions,  the  bulbs  from  the  unthinned  plat  were,  as  an 
average,  only  slightly  over  one-third  as  large  as  those  from  the  thinned 
plat. 

RELATION  OF  THINNING  TO  YIELD 

On  account  of  the  excessive  number  of  bulbs  produced,  the  total 
yield  of  onions  was  greater  every  year  from  the  unthinned  than  from 
the  thinned  plat.  The  yields  of  large  and  of  small  onions  from  each 
plat,  in  terms  of  bushels  per  acre,  are  given  in  Table  12.  These  fig- 


FIG.  1. — THINNED  ONIONS  AT  LEFT;    UNTHINNED  ONIONS  AT  EIGHT 

,ures  show  that  the  increase  in  the  yield  of  the  unthinned  plats  was 
due  more  to  an  increase  in  the  yield  of  small  onions  than  to  an  in- 
crease in  the  yield  of  large  onions.  In  fact,  in  the  two  years  that  the 
unthinned  onions  were  especially  thick,  the  yields  of  large  onions  were 
actually  less  from  the  unthinned  than  from  the  thinned  plats,  the 
increased  yield  being  due  to  the  superabundance  of  small  onions.  The 
average  yields  of  large  onions  for  the  four  years  were  practically  the 
same  from  both  plats. 


350 


BULLETIN  No.   175 


[July, 


TABLE   12. — YIELDS  OF  ONIONS,  THINNED  AND  UNTHINNED 
(Bushels  per  acre) 


Year 

Plat  2:   Thinned 

Plat  3  :  Unthinned 

Large 

Small 

Total 

Large 

Small 

Total 

1908  

225.44 

452.77 
62.39 
491.93 

87.37 
4.14 
26.67 
2.63 

312.81 
456.91 

89.06 
494.56 

232.46 
501.30 
16.14 
489.65 

103.68 
40.21 
158.25 
45.61 

336.14 
541.51 
174.39 
535.26 

1909                       

1911  .           

1912  

Average  

308.13 

30.20 

338.34 

309.89 

86.94 

396.83 

COST  OF  THINNING 

The  principal  reason  assigned  for  growing  onions  without  thinning 
is  that  the  labor  and  expense  of  the  operation  are  avoided.  It  is  true 
that  thinning  onions  is  a  tedious  task,  and  that  while  thinning  can 
be  combined  with  one  of  the  weedings,  it  is  considerably  more  ex- 
pensive than  weeding  alone,  especially  on  land  that  has  been  properly 
handled  to  keep  it  comparatively  free  from  weed  seeds.  The  expense 
avoided  by  not  thinning  may  be  partly  balanced  by  the  greater  labor 
of  harvesting  a  crop  of  small,  unthinned  bulbs.  The  relation  of  these 
two  items  of  expense  in  the  production  of  the  four  onion  crops  con- 
sidered in  this  connection  is  set  forth  in  Table  13. 


TABLE  13. — DIFFERENCES  IN  COST  OF  GROWING  ONIONS  WITH  AND  WITHOUT 

THINNING 


1908 

1909 

1911 

1912 

Average 

Plat  2:  Thinned  — 
Cost  of  weeding  and  thinning 
Cost  of  harvesting   

$27.00 
17  00 

$28.80 
18  75 

$47.50 
1460 

$40.50 
1740 

$35.95 
1694 

Total  two  items  

4400 

4755 

62  10 

57.90 

52  89 

Plat  3  :  Not  thinned— 
Cost  of  weeding  

$  7.00 

$12.70 

$  3.50 

$14.40 

$  9.40 

Cost  of  harvesting  

18.70 

38.10 

37.60 

48.90 

35.83 

Total,  two  items  

25.70 

50.80 

41.10 

63.30 

45.23 

Difference  in  favor  of  Plat  3  .  . 

$18.30 

$-3.25 

$21.00 

$-5.40 

$  7.66 

The  figures  in  this  table  indicate  that  the  thinning  cost  from  $16 
to  $44  per  acre  (the  difference  between  the  cost  of  thinning  and  weed- 
ing Plat  2  and  the  cost  of  weeding  Plat  3).  This  wide  difference 
from  year  to  year  was  due  mainly  to  differences  in  the  thickness  of 
the  original  stand.  The  extremely  low  cost  of  weeding  in  1911  was 
due  to  dry  weather  which  was  unfavorable  to  weed  production.  This 
table  also  shows  that  the  cost  of  harvesting  the  thinned  onions  was 
fairly  uniform,  while  that  of  harvesting  the  unthinned  onions  varied 
with  the  number  of  bulbs  produced.  In  1908,  when  the  number  of 


1914}  EXPERIMENTS  IN  ONION  CULTURE  351 

bulbs  in  the  unthinned  plat  was  not  much,  greater  than  in  the  thinned 
plat,  the  cost  of  harvesting  wag  likewise  not  much  greater.  In  other 
years  the  cost  of  harvesting  was  considerably  greater  for  the  Tin- 
thinned  than  for  the  thinned  plat.  In  1911  the  unthinned  onions 
were  so  small  and  numerous  that  they  were  handled  like  onion  sets, 
and  the  cost  of  harvesting  was  thus  made  smaller  than  it  would  other- 
wise have  been.  This,  combined  with  the  low  cost  of  weeding,  al- 
ready mentioned,  shows  a  greater  saving  of  expense  by  not  thinning 
than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case.  The  average  for  the  four 
years  shows  a  saving  of  $7.66  per  acre  in  favor  of  not  thinning. 

GROWING  RIPE  ONIONS  FROM  SETS 

In  this  part  of  the  country,  onion  sets  are  used  chiefly  for  the 
production  of  green  bunch  onions.  In  order  to  test  their  adapta- 
bility, as  compared  with  seed,  for  the  production  of  ripe  onions,  like 
areas  were  planted  with  seed  and  with  sets,  and  records  were  kept 
of  the  labor  and  cost  of  production,  the  yield  and  size  of  bulbs,  the 
time  of  ripening,  and  the  selling  price  of  the  product.  These  tests 
extended  over  a  period  of  six  years.  During  the  first  three  years, 
only  yellow  bottom  sets  were  used ;  during  the  last  three  years,  Prize 
Taker  sets  also  were  employed.  The  yellow  bottom  sets  were  usually 
purchased,  while  the  Prize  Taker  sets  were  grown  on  the  Station 
grounds,  since  they  could  not  readily  be  obtained  in  the  trade.  The 
home-grown  yellow  bottom  sets  that  were  used  were  from  the  same 
strain  of  seed  as  the  ripe  onions  grown  from  seed.  The  variety  and 
strain  of  the  commercial  yellow  bottom  sets  were  unknown.  The  Prize 
Taker  sets  and  seeds  were  always  of  the  same  strain. 

For  the  first  two  years,  the  commercial  sets  were  planted  as  re- 
ceived from  the  dealers,  without  screening.  They  included  many 
large,  overgrown  sets,  and  quite  a  high  percentage  of  the  plants  sent 
up  seed  stalks.  For  the  last  four  years,  the  sets  were  screened  be- 
fore planting.  They  were  first  thrown  on  a  %-inch  screen  and  those 
that  would  not  go  thru  were  discarded;  then  the  remaining  sets 
were  passed  over  a  i/^-inch  screen  and  all  those  that  dropped  thru 
were  discarded.  Thus,  only  the  medium-sized  sets  were  used  for 
planting.  A  considerably  smaller  quantity  of  sets  was  needed  for 
planting  a  given  area  when  the  screened  sets  were  used  than  when 
the  unscreened  sets  were  used,  and  a  smaller  percentage  of  the  plants 
sent  up  seed  stalks. 

Data  regarding  the  kind  and  quantity-  of  sets  planted  each  year 
and  the  percentage  producing  seed  stalks  are  given  in  Table  14.  The 
area  of  each  plat  employed  in  these  tests  was  one-fortieth  of  an  acre. 
In  calculating  the  quantity  of  sets  needed  to  plant  an  acre,  it  was 
assumed  that  the  sets  weighed  32  pounds  per  bushel. 


352 


BULLETIN  No.  175 


[July, 


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1914] 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  ONION  CULTURE 


353 


Each  year  of  the  tests,  the  seeds  and  sets  were  planted  the  same 
day,  in  soil  that  had  received  identical  preparation.  The  seeds  were 
sown  with  a  drill,  and,  except  in  1907,  when  the  stand  was  very  thin, 
the  Yellow  Globe  seedlings  were  thinned  to  a  distance  of  approxi- 
mately three  inches,  and  the  Prize  Taker,  to  four  inches.  The  sets 
were  planted  by  hand  in  drills  made  by  a  sled  marker,  and  were 
placed  at  approximately  the  same  distances  as  those  to  which  the 
onions  from  seed  were  thinned.  The  planting  of  the  sets  was  a  tedi- 
ous operation,  requiring  from  twelve  to  twenty  times  as  much  labor 
as  the  planting  of  the  seed.  However,  the  crop  grown  from  the  sets 


FIG.  2. — ONIONS  FROM  SETS  AT  LEFT;    FROM  SEEDS  AT  EIGHT 


developed  rapidly  and  did  not  require  so  much  tillage  (owing  princi- 
pally to  the  shorter  period  of  growth)  nor  nearly  so  much  labor  in 
weeding,  as  did  the  crop  grown  from  seed.  Furthermore,  there  was 
a  uniform  stand  from  the  sets  without  any  expense  for  thinning. 

Data  regarding  the  comparative  amount  of  labor  employed  in 
planting,  tillage,  and  weeding  and  thinning,  in  the  two  ways  of  grow- 
ing the  onions  are  given  in  Table  15.  The  figures  for  the  last  three 
years  represent  the  average  for  the  two  varieties.  It  will  be  seen 
that  while  the  labor  of  planting  the  sets  was  enormous,  it  was  usually 
more  than  balanced  by  the  saving  in  the  labor  of  tillage,  and  weeding 
and  thinning. 


354 


BULLETIN  No.   375 


[July, 


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for  planting 
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Tillage  
Weeding  and 

thinning.  .  .  , 
Harvesting  .  . 

"o 
EH 

EXPERIMENTS  IN  ONION  CULTU&E  355 

RELATIVE  COST  OF  GROWING  ONIONS  FROM  SEED  AND  FROM  SETS 

As  shown  in  Table  15,  the  excess  of  labor  in  planting  the  onion 
sets  as  compared  with  sowing  the  seed  was  usually  fully  offset  by 
the  saving  of  labor  in  tillage,  weeding,  and  thinning.  Since  the  same 
amount  of  manure  was  used  on  each  plat  and  the  same  preparation 
was  given  the  land,  any  differences  in  the  cost  of  growing  the  crop 
the  two  ways,  in  addition  to  the  differences  already  mentioned,  would 
depend  upon  the  relative  cost  of  the  seed  and  the  sets,  and  the  cost 
of  harvesting  the  crop.  The  prices  both  of  the  seed  and  of  the  sets 
varied  from  year  to  year,  but  except  under  the  abnormal  conditions 
of  the  onion-set  market  in  the  spring  of  1911,  the  sets  for  planting 
a  given  area  cost  from  somewhat  less  than  four  to  nearly  ten  times 
as  much  as  the  seed. 

The  various  items  of  expense  in  growing  the  crops  from  seed  and 
from  sets,  calculated  to  the  acre  basis,  are  shown  in  Table  16.  The 
figures  given  represent  the  average  for  the  two  varieties,  except  in 
the  case  of  the  sets  in  the  years  when  only  one  variety  was  used. 
The  cost  of  the  seed  each  year  is  figured  on  the  basis  of  four  pounds 
per  acre  at  the  actual  price  paid  for  the  seed  that  year.  High-grade 
seed  was  invariably  used.  The  cost  of  the  sets  is  based  upon  the 
market  price  of  sets  in  this  locality  at  planting  time  each  year  and 
the  actual  quantity  planted.  The  cost  of  labor  is  figured  at  the  uni- 
form rate  of  15  cents  per  hour.  In  commercial  practice,  much  of  the 
labor  in  growing  onions  would  in  many  cases  be  done  by  women  and 
children  at  a  lower  figure.  Likewise,  the  cost  of  manure  would  vary 
in  different  places.  In  this  estimate  it  has  been  figured  at  75  cents 
per  ton.  However,  since  the  same  amount  of  manure  was  used  on 
each  plat,  the  price  would  have  no  influence  on  the  relative  cost  of 
growing  the  onions  the  two  ways. 

YIELDS  OF  ONIONS  FROM  SEED  AND  FROM  SETS 

Table  16  shows  that  on  account  of  the  much  greater  cost  for  sets 
than  for  seed,  and  the  greater  expense  of  harvesting  the  crop  from 
the  sets,  the  cost  of  growing  onions  from  sets  averaged  nearly  50 
percent  greater  than  the  cost  of  growing  the  crop  from  seed.  There- 
fore, unless  some  other  compensating  feature  can  be  found,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  saving  of  labor  in  tillage,  weeding,  and  thinning,  there  is 
no  valid  reason  for  growing  ripe  onions  from  sets.  Table  17,  which 
gives  the  yields,  in  bushels  per  acre,  of  the  onions  grown  from  seed 
and  from  sets  each  year,  throws  some  light  on  this  point. 


356 


BULLETIN  No.   375 


[July, 


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1914]  EXPERIMENTS  IN  ONION  CULTURE  357 

It  will  be  seen  that  except  in  1912,  the  yield  of  large  onions  (i.  e., 
onions  of  standard  market  size)  was  greater  from  the  sets  than  from 
the  seed,  and  that  except  in  1908  and  1912  the  total  yield  also  was 
greater.  The  six-year  average  shows  an  advantage  of  129  bushels  of 
large  onions  per  acre  in  favor  of  the  yellow  bottom  sets  as  compared 
with  the  Southport  Yellow  Globe  seed;  while  for  the  three  years  in 
which  Prize  Taker  sets  were  used,  the  average  yield  of  large  onions 
is  shown  to  have  been  247  bushels  greater  from  the  sets  than  from 
seed  of  the  same  strain.  The  marked  superiority  of  sets  over  seed  in 
certainty  of  producing  a  crop  is  clearly  shown  by  the  yields  for  1911, 
when  conditions  during  June  and  July  were  so  unfavorable  for  the 
growth  of  onions  (see  Tables  7  and  8).  The  vigorous  growth  made 
in  April  and  May  by  the  onions  from  the  sets  enabled  them  to  pro- 
duce a  fair  crop  in  spite  of  the  drouth  in  June.  The  smaller,  yield 
from  the  sets  than  from  the  seed  in  1912  can  be  accounted  for  when 
the  difference  in  the  stage  of  development  of  the  respective  crops  is 
considered  in  connection  with  the  weather  conditions  at  certain  peri- 
ods. The  onions  grown  from  sets  ripened  normally  during  a  dry 
spell  in  July  (at  approximately  the  average  date),  but  on  account 
of  late  planting  their  period  of  growth  was  shorter  than  in  any  other 
year  of  the  six.  About  the  time  these  onions  ripened,  there  was  a 
heavy  rain,  followed  by  temperate  weather,  which  was  very  favor- 
able to  the  development  of  the  onions  grown  from  seed.  These  latter 
continued  to  grow  fo'r  a  full  month  after  the  crop  from  the  sets  had 
been  harvested.  In  1910,  when  the  Prize  Taker  sets  produced  their 
highest  yield,  the  crop  from  the  sets  continued  growing  until  within 
ten  days  of  the  time  of  the  ripening  of  the  crop  from  the  seed. 

SIZE  OF  BULBS  FROM  SEED  AND  FROM  SETS 

The  larger  yields  from  the  sets  were  due  sometimes  to  a  more 
complete  and  uniform  stand,  and  sometimes  to  the  larger  size  of  the 
bulbs.  In  1907  and  1910,  the  stands  from  Yellow  Globe  seed  were 
rather  thin  and  the  bulbs  grew  larger  than  those  from  the  yellow 
bottom  sets,  yet  the  better  stands  from  the  sets  resulted  in  much 
larger  yields.  In  1909  and  1911,  altho  the  stands  of  Yellow  Globe 
from  the  seed  were  almost  perfect,  the  bulbs  from  the  sets  were  so 
very  much  larger  that  the  yields  greatly  exceeded  those  from  the  seed. 
In  1910  and  1911,  the  stands  of  Prize  Taker  from  the  sets  were  thicker 
than  the  stands  from  the  seed,  and  the  bulbs  were  also  very  much 
larger.  Under  these  conditions,  the  yields  from  the  sets  were  greatly 
in  excess  of  those  from  the  seed.  In  1912  the  Prize  Taker  onions 
grown  from  seed  continued  growing  until  very  late,  as  already  noted, 
and  reached  an  enormous  size.  This  gave  the  seed  an  advantage  in 
yield  over  the  sets  that  year,  in  spite  of  the  thicker  stand  from  the 
sets. 


358 


BULLETIN  No.  175 


[July, 


Notwithstanding  the  variations  from  year  to  year,  the  averages  for 
the  six  years  and  three  years,  respectively,  for  the  two  varieties  show 
that  the  bulbs  grown  from  sets  were  substantially  larger  than  those 
grown  from  seed.  The  most  striking  difference  in  size  of  bulbs  ap- 
peared under  the  trying  conditions  of  1911,  when  the  sets  were  able 
to  produce  fair-sized  bulbs  regardless  of  the  drouth.  Detailed  data 
regarding  the  number  of  large  and  small  onions  and  the  average 
weights  of  the  bulbs  for  each  variety  each  year  are  given  in  Table  18. 

TABLE  18. — NUMBER  OP  LARGE  AND  SMALL  ONIONS  PER  PLAT,  AND  AVERAGE 
WEIGHT  OP  BULBS  GROWN  PROM  SEED  AND  PROM  SETS 

(All  weights  expressed  in  pounds) 


* 

Tear 

Seed 

Sets 

Large 

Small 

Total 

Large 

Small 

Total 

No. 

Av. 

wt. 

No. 

Av. 

wt. 

No. 

Av. 

wt. 

No. 

Av. 
wt. 

No. 

Av. 
wt. 

No. 

Av. 
wt. 

Yellow  Globe 


1907  

2278 
1900 
3755 
1974 
1975 
3722 

.259 
.169 
.172 
.214 
.045 
.188 

2278 
3560 
3894 
2254 
3967 
3887 

.259 
.125 
.167 
.194 
.032 
.181 

3689 
3140 
3350 
4163 
3240 
3102 

.206 
.132 
.285 
.178 
.113 
-.204 

3689 
3720 
3496 
4386 
3294 
3172 

.206 
.117 
.277 
.173 
.111 
.201 

1908  

1660 
139 
280 
1992 
165 

.075 
.042 
.055 
.019 
.023 

580 
146 
223 
54 

70 

.034 
.094 
.069 
.030 
.029 

1909  

1910  

1911  

1912  

Averasre  . 

2601 

.177 

706 

.044 

3307 

.149 

3447 

.187 

179 

.049 

3626 

.180 

Prize  Taker 


1907  

3884 

.214 

3884 

.214 

1908  

1730 

m 

460 

.087 

2190 

.198 

1909  

2921 

.178 

201 

.040 

3122 

.169 

1910  

2302 

.221 

317 

.091 

2619 

.205 

3006 

.382 

153 

.072 

3159 

.367 

1911  

609 

.046 

1235 

.018 

1844 

.027 

3016 

.165 

39 

.031 

3055 

.164 

1912  

2591 

.388 

109 

.026 

2700 

.374 

3462 

.275 

33 

.030 

3495 

.273 

Six-year  average  . 

2340 

.234 

387 

.044 

2727 

.207 

Three-year  aver.  . 

1834 

.280 

554 

.035 

2388 

.223 

3161 

.274 

75 

.059 

3236 

.269 

TIME  OP  RIPENING  OF  ONIONS  FROM  SEED  AND  FROM  SETS 

As  already  intimated,  the  onions  grown  from  sets  ripened  earlier 
than  those  from  seed.  The  date  of  harvest  and  the  number  of  days 
from  planting  to  maturity  are  given  for  each  variety  each  year,  in 
Table  19.  This  table  shows  that  the  crop  from  the  sets  normally  ma- 
tured in  July  and  the  crop  from  seed  in  August,  and  that  altho  the 
difference  in  the  time  of  the  ripening  of  the  two  crops  varied  from 
9  to  42  days,  the  average  difference  was  25  days  for  the  Yellow 
Globe  and  23  days  for  the  Prize  Taker. 


1914} 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  ONION  CULTURE 


359 


TABLE  19. — TIME  OF  EIPENING  OF  ONIONS  FROM  SEED  AND  FROM  SETS 


1 

fellcw 

Globe 

Prize  r. 

raker 

Year 

See* 

1 

Set 

3 

See< 

1 

Set 

3 

Date 

Days 

Date 

Days 

Date 

Days 

Date 

Days 

1907   

Aug.  28 

161 

July  17 

119 

Aug.  21 

154 

1908     

"       7 

134 

"     13 

109 

'        7 

134 

1909   

"       6 

127 

"     28 

118 

'      16 

137 

1910   

"     12 

143 

"     27 

127 

'       12 

143 

Aug.    2 

133 

1911  

July  24 

124 

"       1 

101 

134 

July    7 

107 

1912   

Aug.  23 

134 

"     19 

99 

'       23 

134 

»     23 

103 

Six-year  average 

Aug   12 

137 

July  18 

112 

Aug   14 

139 

Three-year  average  .  . 

"     12 

137 

July  21 

114 

RELATIVE  PROFITS  IN  GROWING  ONIONS  FROM  SEED  AND  FROM  SETS 

The  true  value  of  the  difference  in  the  time  of  the  ripening  of 
onions  from  seed  and  from  sets  can  be  appreciated  more  fully  when 
considered  in  connection  with  market  conditions  at  different  times  in 
the  season.  Since  comparatively  few  ripe  onions  are  grown  from  sets 
in  this  part  of  the  country,  the  local  markets  are  normally  not  very 
fully  supplied  with  onions  at  the  time  the  crop  from  the  sets  matures ; 
and  unless  the  crop  of  Texas  Bermudas  is  large  and  late,  there  is 
likely  to  be  little  competition  from  onions  of  any  kind  until  the  main 
crop  from  seed  matures.  There  is  usually,  therefore,  an  opportunity 
to  dispose  of  ripe  onions  grown  from  sets,  immediately  after  they 
are  harvested,  and  prices  at  that  time  are  likely  to  be  good.  The 
large  onions  from  the  experimental  plats  were  sold  to  a  local  whole- 
sale dealer;  those  grown  from  sets  were  disposed  of  as  soon  after 
harvesting  as  they  could  be  cured,  and  brought  a  higher  average 
price  than  those  sold  later  that  were  grown  from  seed.  The  small 
onions  were  usually  sold  to  peddlers  or  to  private  parties  for  pick- 
ling. The  prices  received  for  each  type  of  onions  each  year  are  given 
in  Table  20. 

TABLE  20. — PRICES  PER  BUSHEL  EECEIVED  FOR  ONIONS 


Yellow 

v  Globe 

Prize 

Taker 

Year 

Se 

ed 

Se 

ts 

Se 

ed 

S« 

ts 

Large 

Small 

Large 

Small 

Large 

Small 

Large 

Small 

1907 

$0.75 

$1.25 

$0.75 

1908      

.75 

$0.50 

.80 

$0.50 

.75 

$0.50 

1909      

.75 

•      .50 

.80 

.50 

.75 

.50 

1910      

.80 

.50 

.80 

.50 

.80 

.50 

$1.00 

$0.50 

1911      

.75 

.50 

1.00 

.50 

.75 

.50 

1.00 

.50 

1912      

.60 

.30 

.60 

.30 

.60 

.30 

.60 

.30 

Average  .... 

$0.73 

$0.46 

$0.88 

$0.46 

$0.73 

$0.46 

$0.87 

$0.43 

Since  the  onions  grown  from  sets  had  the  advantage  of  those 
grown  from  seed  both  in  yield  and  in  price  per  bushel,  the  average 


360 


BULLETIN  No.  175 


[July, 


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1914}  EXPERIMENTS  IN  ONION  CULTURE  361 

value  of  the  crops  produced  from  sets  was  considerably  greater  than 
that  of  the  crops  produced  from  seed.  Table  21  gives  the  'value  of 
the  crop,  the  cost  of  production,  and  the  net  profit  for  each  of  the 
crops  of  onions  from  sets  and  from  seed. 

Altho  the  cost  of  growing  the  crop  from  sets  was  every  year 
greater — and  usually  very  much  greater — than  that  of  growing  the 
crop  from  seed,  the  higher  yield  and  the  higher  prices  combined  usu- 
ally resulted  in  the  crop  from  the  sets  being  much  more  profitable 
than  that  from  the  seed.  The  only  exceptions  occurred  in  1908  and 
1912,  when  the  crop  from  the  sets  was  smaller  than  that  from  the 
seed,  as  already  mentioned,  and  the  prices  little  or  no  higher.  The 
six-year  average  shows  an  advantage  of  $102.23  per  acre  per  year 
in  favor  of  growing  the  Yellow  Globe  onions  from  sets  rather  than 
from  seed.  For  the  three  years  that  the  Prize  Taker  sets  were  used, 
the  average  annual  profits  per  acre  were  $254.14  greater  for  the  crop 
grown  from  sets  than  for  the  crop  grown  from  seed  of  the  same  strain. 
This  average  is  not  comparable  with  the  six-year  average  for  the 
other  type,  on  account  of  the  very  low  yields  from  seed  in  1911  and 
the  higher  price  received  for  the  Prize  Taker  onions  grown  from  sets 
in  1910.  However,  it  shows  something  of  the  possibilities  in  the  line 
of  the  profits  that  may  be  secured  from  Prize  Taker  onions  grown 
from  sets,  as  compared  with  the  same  variety  grown  from  seed. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Wood  Ashes  as  a  Fertilizer  for  Onions. — The  results  show  that,  on 
the  type  of  soil  used  in  these  experiments,  the  use  of  wood  ashes  as  a 
fertilizer  for  onions  is  not  attended  with  sufficiently  regular  profits  to 
warrant  its  recommendation. 

Time  of  Planting. — The  results  of  the  tests  herein  reported  in- 
dicate that  onions  should  be  planted  within  two  weeks  after  the  soil 
first  reaches  workable  condition  in  the  spring ;  and  that  planting  at  the 
beginning  of  this  period  is  likely  to  result  in  larger  average  yields 
than  planting  at  its  close.  Furthermore,  there  is  more  certainty  of 
getting  the  onions  planted  sufficiently  early  if  they  are  planted  at  the 
earliest  opportunity,  than  if  the  first  period  of  good  planting  weather 
is  allowed  to  pass.  It  is  therefore  advisable  to  plant  onions  at  the 
very  earliest  date  in  spring  that  a  good  seed  bed  can  be  prepared.  In 
central  Illinois  this  is  usually  some  time  between  March  20  and 
April  1. 

Thinning. — The  chief  objection  to  thinning  onions  is  the  expense. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  onions  are  not  thinned,  there  is  likely  to  be 
a  large  percentage  of  undersized  bulbs,  and  even  those  that  are  of 
marketable  size  (that  is,  more  than  li/4  inches  in  diameter)  are  likely 
to  be  much  smaller  than  those  that  have  been  thinned.  The  tendency  of 
the  market  at  the  present  time  is  to  give  preference  to  large-sized 


362  BULLETIN  No.  175  [July, 

onions,  so  that  altho  the  accepted  minimum  standard  size  for  market 
onions  is  11/4  inches  in  diameter,  unless  most  of  the  onions  in  a  given 
lot  are  considerably  above  the  minimum,  it  is  difficult  to  sell  them  on 
some  markets,  even  at  a  reduced  price.  Therefore,  if  onions  are  to 
be  grown  without  thinning,  great  care  must  be  taken  in  sowing  the 
seed  to  secure  'a  thin  and  uniform  stand.  This  involves  testing  the 
seed  for  germinative  power,  and  adjusting  the  seed  drill  with  ex- 
treme precision. 

Growing  Onions  from  Sets. — On  the  whole  it  appears  that  altho 
the  cost  of  growing  onions  from  sets  is  considerably  greater  than 
growing  the  crop  from  seed,  the  sets  are  more  certain  than  the  seed 
to  produce  a  paying  crop,  especially  under  unfavorable  weather  con- 
ditions ;  the  crop  is  likely  to  be  larger ;  it  ripens  earlier, '  and  can 
usually  be  disposed  of  promptly  at  harvest  time.  The  chief  objection 
to  the  growing  of  onions  from  sets  is  the  enormous  amount  of  labor 
involved  in  planting  them.  However,  this  is  usually  offset  by  the 
saving  of  expense  in  weeding,  thinning,  and  tillage.  The  excess  cost 
of  sets  over  seed  and  the  increased  labor  of  harvesting  the  larger 
crop  from  the  sets  are  usually  more  than  balanced  by  the  greater 
value  of  the  crop ;  thus,  under  present  conditions,  the  growing  of 
onions  from  sets  for  local  market  in  Illinois  towns  appears  to  offer 
greater  opportunity  for  large  profits  from  small  areas  than  growing 
onions  from  seed.  The  growing  of  ripe  onions  from  sets  may  well 
form  part  of  a  general  market-garder^ng  business,  provided  the  quan- 
tity grown  in  a  given  locality  does  hot  exceed  the  capacity  of  the 
available  markets. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

Q  630.7IL6B  COO 

BULLETIN.  URBANA 
166-181  1914-15 


30112019528436 


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